Portable electronic test and measurement instruments allow tests and measurements to be performed quickly and easily in a variety of locations. Such devices are typically powered by batteries stored in a battery receptacle within the device. Over their lifetimes, such devices typically require battery replacement several times, with such replacements being made under a variety of conditions.
In conventional devices, the battery receptacle includes an elongated recess having at least one resilient contact at either end and a stationary or resilient contact at the other end. Batteries having contacts on their ends are inserted into the receptacle by pressing the batteries into the receptacle. The batteries must be inserted into the receptacles with sufficient force to displace at least one of the contacts so that the contacts can slide along the ends of the battery.
Conventional resilient battery contacts suffer from repeated flexing of the contacts, reducing the resiliency of the contacts. If the resiliency of the contacts is reduced sufficiently, the force exerted on the batteries is reduced, and the reliability of the electrical connection between the contact and the battery may be undermined. Furthermore, since the frictional force between the contacts and the batteries is sometimes used to hold the batteries in place, a loss of contact resiliency can reduce the frictional force to a level that fails to retain the batteries in position.
In an alternative form of battery receptacle found in common flashlights, the batteries are inserted into a cylindrical receptacle having a contact at a first end. A screw-on cover mounts to the second end and carries a spring which forms the second contact. Such receptacles do not permit batteries to be aligned in a side-by-side arrangement. Also, because the second contact is carried by the cover, an electrical connection must be made between the second contact and the battery powered device as the cover is screwed into place. Typically, this electrical connection is achieved by a metal contact at an outer edge of the cover which slidably engages an annular ring within the cylindrical receptacle, near the second end. Such sliding contacts often form failure sites.